Southern California -- this just in

The campaign of private
lawyer Greg Smith, a dark-horse candidate for Los Angeles city attorney, has
been picking up steam in recent days, with some potentially important
endorsements and a fresh infusion of cash to continue broadcast ads as the March 5 primary nears.

Smith, attempting his
first bid for elected office, has made millions of dollars during a 25-year career representing
police officers and firefighters in discrimination and whistle-blower lawsuits
against their local-government employers. But in this campaign, he has struggled against
better known candidates, City Atty. Carmen Trutanich and former state and local
lawmaker Mike Feuer.

Smith has spent a lot of his money on
television ads, hoping to make voters aware of him. This
week, he said he is adding an additional $200,000 to his campaign kitty, which would
bring his personal financial investment in the effort to $820,000.

The money will help Smith to stay on television and to also keep
airing a radio ad that started over the weekend, campaign strategist John Thomas said
Monday. "Our campaign is committed to
making sure that voters know they have a real choice in this election," he
said.

The campaign also had been picking up some notable
endorsements lately, including organizations representing such law enforcement
groups as the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Assn. and, on Monday, the Peace Officer Research Assn. of California (PORAC). Both groups backed Trutanich when he first ran
for -- and won -- the city attorney's office, in 2009.

The Los Angeles News Group, which includes the San Fernando Valley-based
Daily News of Los Angeles and the South Bay-based Daily Breeze, also endorsed Smith over the weekend.

Trutanich, a veteran Los Angeles County district attorney prosecutor before heading
his own private law firm prior to running, has been slamming Feuer for his lack
of courtroom experience. Feuer headed a legal aid organization before
his election to the Los Angeles City Council and, later, to the state Assembly. Feuer said his broad experience makes
him far better suited for the city’s top legal job than either of the other
two candidates.

Feuer and Trutanich
have increasingly rained blows on each other, but the Feuer campaign recently
has begun taking shots at Smith as well, in a mailer and in a radio ad that also
attacks Trutanich. The Smith campaign
sees that as a sign Feuer is taking the long-shot candidate seriously.

Dave Jacobson, a Feuer campaign spokesman, in a statement issued
Monday, called Smith and Trutanich "two of a kind, peas in a pod, who have both
been relentlessly and falsely attacking Mike."

Trutanich strategist Rick Taylor said the city attorney's
campaign would Monday launch a TV ad campaign that would be "a game
changer."

The three combatants were scheduled to appear at a radio
debate on KCRW-FM (89.9) Monday afternoon. A fourth
candidate on the ballot, private attorney Noel Weiss, was not included, the
station said. Weiss has so far spent nothing on his campaign and is generally not viewed as a viable candidate.